In a furniture system such as a drawer system, a drawer is typically designed to be opened and closed with respect to a cabinet frame via a pair of slide rail assemblies. According to the prior art, a drawer being moved from an opened position to a retracted position with respect to a cabinet frame can be automatically brought to the retracted position by a retracting mechanism in the last stage of the retracting process. U.S. Pat. No. 8,905,498 B2, for example, discloses a retracting device for retracting a movably supported furniture part with respect to a furniture body. The retracting device (8) includes a main body (9), an entrainment member (12), a slider (16), a spring holder (18), and a spring device (17). The main body (9) has a displacement path (10) and a control curve (21). The slider (16) is moved along the displacement path (10) in response to the entrainment member (12) being driven by a coupling element (14). The spring device (17) applies an elastic force to the spring holder (18). The spring holder (18) is configured to move along the control curve (21) and has a tooth arrangement (22a) engageable with a tooth arrangement (22b) of the slider (16). The foregoing configuration allows the forces required for stressing the spring device (17) to be reduced. The contents of this US patent are incorporated herein by reference.
As market demands vary, it is important for the related industries to work together and develop more retracting devices that are equally capable of reducing the forces required to move a furniture part with respect to another.